May Bells and Demons
by Kamiko Kiyo
Summary: When he came to the human world, he wasn't impressed, so it only made sense to pick up a stray or two to pass the time. He knew they wouldn't last, but nothing ever did. Bill wasn't often wrong, but ten days vs. ten years was a bit of an oversight, even for him. AU, Reverse Mabel, MaBill, MaWill, based on manga Hana to Akuma.
Author's Note: This story is NOT OC centric. Please read the story and/or the notes at the end for full explanation. Takes place some time in the 1800s.

* * *

He awoke to the smell of death.

The scent was something unperceivable to a human and would probably make them faint or get sick all over themselves if they ever did have the displeasure of inhaling the morbid fragrance. However, for Bill Cipher, it something that he knew all too well and barely batted an eye at.

He wrinkled his nose before opening his golden eyes, catching the smallest hint of blue fire out of the corner of his vision before it disappeared. Blinking away the ashes that settled on his face so that they wouldn't get in his eyes, he directed a disgruntled frown at the smiling creature hovering above him.

"Surprise!" the little girl cheered.

"You trying to asphyxiate me with ash, kid? That _is_ a surprise," he drawled with a yawn after blowing the ash away from his lips as well. He sat up and lightly shook his head before he reached out to grab the hem of her pink dress and wiped the soot from his face with it. He couldn't say it was the worst way he'd been woken up.

A short glance up at the position of the sun told him that he'd been asleep in the sprawling garden for at least a few hours. In a few more, he suspected that the sun would set. He probably could have slept on until night if not for his ashy awakening. It'd be normal since the sleeping patterns of demons were reversed from that of humans, but then he hadn't had a regular sleep cycle in decades. It'd only gotten worse when he'd come to the human world.

The little girl wasn't the least bit perturbed by the soiling of her skirt and instead gave him a curious look with a tilt of her head. "A fix you with ash?" She butchered the word in confusion.

"Choke. Suffocate. Smother. Strangle. Kill. Make dead." He idly listed off the numerous meanings as realization dawned on her face.

"Oh. No no no! _The flowers_ are the surprise, silly," she spoke as if _he_ was the child. The girl laughed with her hands behind her back. Smiling, she rocked on her heels playfully. "I would never try to ass-fixi-ate you!"

"Not much of a surprise, but good to know. Because then _I'd_ have to make dead _you_ ," he stated with a bored tone, receiving only a giggle in response. He wasn't making a joke, but he was far too used to her strange reactions to care. "I swear, what does Will teach you in school?" Bill grumbled despite being mildly amused at her inability to grasp the word "asphyxiate." Apparently nothing important, but that wasn't news to him. The butler was always on about things that Bill considered useless, but he did his job well so Bill hadn't really care either way when Will had insisted on the girls being "educated" so long as Bill didn't have to do any work.

"A lot of boring stuff," May supplied with a huff. "But we get lots of snack breaks!"

May then held out a flower to him with an expectant look. It was a stem of the Lily of the Valley or the May flower. It was her signature and likely the same kind that she had thrown on his face while he'd been sleeping before they'd burst into blue flames. The numerous small bell-shaped flowers were white where the stem met the flower, but slowly turned a rosy red at the end of the petals.

"For you!" She proudly offered the plant. While sitting on the ground, Bill was nearly at eye level with her and frowned thoughtfully.

"You know, I once met a guy who said insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, which sounds like it would be really annoying." Bill removed one of his black gloves to grasp the flower with his bare hand. Upon contact, they both watched it catch fire and wither to nothing, his hand baring no marks beyond the soot on his fingers. "Good thing for you, Shooting Star, I find your insanity just strange enough to be funny." He dusted the ashes off of his fingers with a slight smirk.

May smiled despite the death of the flower. "I don't expect anything different. I just like it."

"Watching things catch fire?" Bill raised an eyebrow. If that was her thing, then more power to her. He remembered his own phase of pyromania. Those were the days.

When the ashes of the flower were gone, laid to rest on the grass underneath him, Bill put his black glove back on. It was interesting to note that May always seemed to permeate the mixed smell of flowers and death, but it wasn't surprising.

The number of flower deaths at the hands of May by giving them to Bill was probably countless by now. At least once a day the girl felt the need to gift him with one or more and, since Will kept the house in order and properly decorated, they were never in short supply, even during winter. It only made sense that she'd now forever smell like both the flowers and their death considering her ritual and how much time she spent with Bill, who caused the flowers to be set ablaze.

He couldn't really recall when the habit had started to form, but he did remember the bewildered look on her face when May had first discovered that flowers caught fire when a demon touched them. She'd been outside gathering a bunch of newly bloomed flowers and had run to Bill to show him. Without thinking much or caring much, he'd taken them with a mild "whoops" when they'd abruptly began to burn. Will had been too late in warning her and had totally freaked, worrying she'd burst into tears at the loss of her work. Instead, she'd stared and then actually smiled.

"I'll go get you some new ones," she'd declared before she'd gone back outside and gotten Bill another bunch just to watch the same thing happen. At first he'd thought she just hadn't understood that he'd caused the flowers to burn (even if involuntarily), but it'd turned out she just hadn't cared.

Back in the present, Bill contemplated May's possible new fascination with fire and decided to take immediate action the only way a responsible demon would.

"Because, you know, if you want to watch them burn, I could just give you some matches and-"

"There you are, May May!" The pair turned their head to see a blue haired demon rushing over. "I thought I told you to- WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR DRESS!?"

Will dropped to his knees in front of May to inspect the dark spot, doing his best to brush off the ashes. All it did was smear the soot into the fabric further.

"Oooh, May May. You can't go out in public like this." He swung his head to Bill for an explanation.

"She dropped some flowers on me and I needed to wipe my face," Bill said as his head twisted back to look at the butler.

"Biiiilll." Will groaned and looked at the spot forlornly. "You could have used your handkerchief instead." Will knew he had one as the butler was the one to clean it when some unfortunate (and sometimes unknown) substance defiled the cloth.

"But then it would get dirty," Bill said blandly.

"And you thought May May's dress wouldn't?" Will gave him a look.

"I never said that." Bill crossed his arms coolly, unperturbed by his fellow demon.

Will sighed. "Do you know how hard it is to get magic ash out of clothes?"

"Then burn it and make her a new one."

"Oh! Can I do it with the matches you'll give me?" May asked hopefully, holding her hands out excitedly.

"Sure thing, Shooting Star." Bill happily dug out a box of them from his vest pocket.

Will instantly intercepted the exchange, snatching the matches from Bill before he could deposit them into May's hands.

"No matches for children!" Will growled angrily once he'd gotten over the shock of what was transpiring before his eyes.

"Awww." Came a duet of whines from the both of them.

"May. Go change. Bell is waiting in the carriage." Will did his best to muster a tone of calm, but his frustrations were audible under the surface. Plus, he tended to use her and her twin sister's proper names when he was serious or stressed, which was often if Bill had a hand in anything.

Shoulders slumped, May looked back at Bill. When she saw his slanted smile followed by a shrug, she blinked before turning on her heel to go change as she was told.

Once she was out of sight, Will exhaled tiredly, murmuring. "I cringe to think of what happens between you two when I'm not around."

"Lighten up, Blueberry. It was just box of matches." Bill held his hand out for them which Will reluctantly returned to his master.

"Bill. Ten year olds should not be playing with matches," Will spoke as if he were talking to a child, which was what Bill essentially was to Will.

"What do you mean? When I was ten-"

" _Human_ ten year olds," Will amended, "should not be playing with matches."

"We're demons, Will. We can control a little fire." He made blue flames appear in his palm, wiggling his fingers mockingly before putting out the small blaze. Bill then laid back down on the grass to resume his nap, fed up with arguing with Will. His clone may have been wimpy, but he could also be annoyingly persistent.

" _We_ can. But _they_ can't. What if they get hurt or used it while we're not around?"

"That brat of yours could use a lesson in pain." Though Bill had to admit, it could be rather entertaining to watch just how much Bell dominated Will. The little girl practically dragged him around by the collar (sometimes literally) and he let her. It was both amusing and disgustingly degrading at the same time, but Bill found that he couldn't look away more often than not. Like watching a fish slowly die, flopping pathetically from the shallow water to the sand and back over and over again.

"And May?" Will asked with his hands on his hips. It was obvious which twin Bill favored over the other, but when they had their moments Will shivered at the knowledge of how likeminded Bill and Bell could be.

"As if I'd let her get hurt." If he did, Bill would never hear the end of it from Will. The demon was anxious enough with the girls as it was, cooing and pandering to their every want and need. It was no wonder Bell had turned out so differently from May.

Bill placed his hat over his head, effectively ending the conversation and heard Will walk off, likely to check on May.

Was Will right? Not about that whole matches business, but the other thing. Had it really been ten years since they'd picked up and taken in two human children on a whim of his?

…

"This _is why we stopped?" Bill asked, peering down, unimpressed. They were almost at the mansion that he had recently made his new home when the carriage had halted abruptly due to something in the middle of the dirt road._

 _Using his cane, he reached out and poked at one of the tiny, blanket-covered things that resembled a giant caterpillar cocoon. In response, he got a small whine and dark brown eyes opened to meet his golden ones._

 _"How horrible! Who would leave two babies out on the road like this?" Will crouched down with a sympathetic frown of concern on his face. He lightly smacked away Bill's cane and, after a little work, managed to hold each infant in one of his arms._

 _At the shift in position, the brown eyed one's eyes wandered curiously. It appeared in awe of the giants while the other baby could have been mistaken as asleep if its blue eyes weren't open, staring into space disinterestedly._

 _When the brown eyed baby's gaze met Bill's face again it lingered before a big, toothless smile broke out on its face._

 _"Well, they're ours now." Before Will could react, Bill lifted the brown eyed baby by a fold in its blanket over the tip of his cane and turned it to face him. The next moment Bill's face transformed. His skin turned red, the white of his eye became black and the iris glowed bright yellow as his one visible pupil became a slit. He growled, showing his razor sharp teeth and black, snake-like tongue, quickly eliciting a loud wail of fear from the child as it began to cry._

 _Will jumped back, holding the baby he still had protectively, but even as that one spotted Bill, it didn't cry like the other. Finally giving something its attention, the baby only stared at the nightmarish demon with wide blue eyes._

 _After a moment, Bill's face returned to its human form and he grinned. He watched the baby on the end of his cane continue to scream in terror and nodded to himself, seemingly satisfied._

 _"Bill! What the hell!?" Will shouted in disbelief._

 _Bill ignored his mortified butler. "It wouldn't be my first choice of breed, but I've been in need of a new pet," he remarked over the squalling baby as tears streamed down its face. "And I like this one better. More spirit. And terror." He then jerked his cane with a light flick of his wrist and threw the baby into the air from the end of his cane. In the process, he practically gave Will a heart attack before he caught it by the scuff of the blanket with his gloved hand._

 _"Bill. These aren't pets. They're human babies!" The blue eyed demon exclaimed._

 _"Chill out, Blueberry. I promise I'll get rid of it myself once I get bored," the blond stated before his gaze landed on the silent baby in Will's arms. "Speaking of which, make sure you dispose of that one. The smell of rotting flesh doesn't appeal to me like it used to."_

 _"D-Dispose of it?" Will paled._

 _"Uh, yeah. Why would I need two of the same thing?" Bill spoke as if it were obvious. Sure, he ran the risk of accidentally breaking the first one, but Bill wasn't one to cry over spilled blood. If it happened it happened and it would honestly be a miracle if the child maintained his interest for more than a week._

 _After looking into both of their eyes, he realized that they weren't just two babies. They were a set of twins. Girls at that. "We'll have to see how I feel later about just keeping this one," he spoke with pensive pessimism. He gazed into the eyes of the brown eyed baby who'd trailed off into quiet sniffling and whimpers to see its sigil. "Shooting Star, huh?" he mumbled thoughtfully. Celestial body signs were rare._

 _"B-Bill, this is a living, innocent child. It never did anything to you," Will reasoned. They could at least try to send it back to the town down the hill where it probably came from._

 _"Of course it didn't. I would be a sad and sorry excuse for a demon like you if I let something like a baby get the best of me." Although certain obese babies of a particular time giant race could prove to be quite irksome at times. "That's why I'm ordering you to give it a painless death." Bill shifted his baby to be cradled in his arm. Although it was an improvement, he didn't seem to give it any more care than he would a meat package he'd gotten from the market. "Yeesh, do I have to spell everything out for you?"_

 _"B-But you can't just-"_

 _"Are you questioning my orders?" Bill's tone lacked any of the demon's usual playful nonchalance, chilling Will to the bone. The air was thick and it seemed even the distressed, frightened baby sensed the darkness in the air as its sobs grew even quieter._

 _The blond's visible eye began to glow menacingly and Will knew he was treading on thin ice._

 _"N-No, Bill. I… I just…" Will swallowed thickly, looking down and met the cool, innocent blue gaze of the child in his arms. Though it seemed to instinctually stiffen from the change in the air, it clearly had no idea what was going on. "I… was hoping…" Will struggled not to shake. "I mean… I-I'll keep this one… if you don't… want it…" He eventually braved a glance up to see Bill looking off to the side contemplatively with a hand on his hip and the baby in the other._

 _"… I reserve the same rights to the both of them," he warned. He wasn't asking Will. He was telling. "I'll do what I want with them and I'll kill them if and when I want." He declared lowly after a moment. The tension lifted as he then spoke, "It might not be so bad to have a matching set though." He bounced the child in his arm. It appeared perturbed by the jostling, but only let out small, residual sniffles and hiccups from its crying fit._

 _Will let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Bill." He looked down at the blue eyed baby and a soft smile slowly crept onto the blue haired demon's face. "Oh, they're girls." He stated jovially. "What do you think we should name them?"_

 _"Shooting Star and whatever sign that one has." Bill walked over and peered at the stoic baby. "A comet… kinda little though-"_

 _"I think that's because she's a baby-"_

 _"Little Comet and Shooting Star. Done and done." Will was sure Bill would have dusted his hands off if one wasn't preoccupied._

 _"Bill… those aren't really names…" Will piped in timidly, receiving a blank stare from his master. "I-I mean, they're more like nicknames. It's just their sigil." It was as good as naming a dog "Dog."_

 _"Then what would you suggest?" Bill deadpanned._

 _"Something a little prettier at least. Maybe I'll call this one…" Will stared at his baby pensively. "Serenity-"_

 _"Denied."_

 _"What!? But you said this one was mine!" Will stared at Bill incredulously. "Can't I at least name her?"_

 _"Yeah, she's yours. But you're mine and therefore what's yours is mine, but what's mine is so not yours and they're both mine from the start anyway so I practically own that one twice over considering you're mine and she's yours." Bill awaited Will's response as if what he'd said had made perfect sense._

 _"… Look, can I name her or not?" Will finally asked, rubbing his temple with his free hand. Sometimes he could hardly believe that he was meant to be a facsimile of the blond demon. Bill had always claimed something had simply gone horribly wrong in the process, but at times like this Will was in doubt of whether they even truly shared the same essence._

 _"Not that name," Bill stated firmly. "It's lame. You might as well name her Hope, Bliss, Charity or something equally repulsive to the ear."_

 _"Then what do you think is a good name?" Will asked tiredly._

 _"Hm… Bill Jr-"_

 _"No. You didn't even give me that name." Will deadpanned. He knew his master was anything but fit to be raising children, but Will was more than a bit discomfited to see that Bill was already starting to make choices that could scar the twin girls for life._

 _"Well, when I made you I figured out from the start you'd be a disappointment. I'm trying to be a little more optimistic with this one." Seriously, what did Will want from him?_

 _"Please think of something else." The butler sighed._

 _"Fine… Satan-"_

 _"Are you serious right now!?"_

 _"Hey, he's a pretty cool guy once you get to know him! Got this great sense of morbid humor." In the background Bill could hear the baby in his arms start to cry again, likely from all their yelling. "And knowing him, he'd get a kick out of me naming it after him. Especially with all the dead baby jokes he makes, like this one that_ really _kills me where a blind nun with an axe and a boiling pot of -"_

 _"Those aren't even girl names," Will interrupted with a growl despite trying to lower his voice while hiding his growing mortification at Bill._

 _Subconsciously, he began to rock the baby in his arms, hoping that she wouldn't devolve into tears like her sister. The demon servant would be all too glad to try to do the same to comfort Bill's baby, but he had a feeling his master wouldn't take well to him snatching his new "pet" away from him without permission. Even though Will didn't like it, a crying infant was better than a livid Bill._

 _"Maybe you're right," Bill relented to Will's surprise. "After all, you're a prime example of how badly a girl with boy name can end up."_

 _"Real mature," Will muttered blandly in exasperation. "I hate to think of what you would've named me if I wasn't a disappointment."_

 _"That's an easy one." The blond used his cane to casually tap his shoulder. "Bill 2."_

 _The two demons' attentions were abruptly drawn away by a loud, resounding jingling sound in the distance. It resembled wind chimes, but despite the volume the tone was still high-pitched._

 _"What is that?" Bill asked, turning towards the source. It had to be coming from town._

 _"Oh. That must be the May Bell," Will concluded. "In town they're having a May Day festival and ringing the May Bell marks the beginning and end," he reiterated what he'd heard from the locals._

 _"It has to be giant for the sound to be making its way up here." Bill shielded his eyes from the sun to squint, trying to locate the tower it would be coming from. "I thought bells like those were just a fancy name for a gong." It didn't sound like a normal bell at all with several simultaneous rings sounding._

 _"That's true, but I heard that this bell has multiple pipes which makes the various sounds at once. Something about the way it was created years ago makes the sounds high-pitched like wind chimes though," Will supplied._

 _Only then did Bill realize that no sound came from either baby and looked to see that the infants both had their eyes shut, as if lulled to sleep by the sound. As much as he enjoyed the distress of others, Bill could admit that constant wailing could get annoying after too long._

 _"And what was it called again?" The sound, unlike some of the music he'd heard in town, actually wasn't offensive to his ears. "The Mabel?"_

 _"The May Bell." Will corrected Bill softly._

 _"The May Bell. May Bell. Mabel?" He studied the child in his arm quietly. "What if I call this one Mabel?" Bill suggested._

 _"But what about this one?" Will gestured to the baby in his own arms, noting the same reaction as Bill had._

 _"Split it then. This one can be May and that one can be Bell. Are those acceptable names?" Bill asked sarcastically._

 _Will either didn't notice the sarcasm or didn't care. "May and Bell." He glanced back and forth between the two serene babies. "That sounds perfect."_

 _"I guess… Bill Jr. still has a nice ring to it thou-"_

 _"May and Bell it is."_

 _Bill rolled his eyes and looked down to watch the even breathing of "May." Perhaps naming them was a bit too hasty. The demon could see them lasting ten days. At best._

…

"I'm sorry about my dress, Will," May apologized softly. Now that the moment had passed and Bill was no longer there, the guilt started to set in while watching the butler fret over the stain.

"You're not the one at fault, May May… or the one who should be sorry." Will frowned, clearly thinking of Bill. "What is he thinking when he does this stuff?" he sighed.

"He's thinking it's funny to see you flailing around like a drowning goffer on fire," May chipped in happily. "He told me that once."

"Of course he did." Will dismissed the unsurprising fact as he helped May put her shoes on. She usually elected to do it herself, but she could see that Will was flustered and knew that keeping himself busy usually helped him calm down more quickly.

"Just remember from now on, May May. Using fire can be dangerous so don't do it if me or Bill-er… if I or one of the staff isn't around." He finished with her shoes and finally placed her favorite headband on her head. It was pink with a red jewel on one side. Will had gotten it for her after she'd said that she wished she had a headband just like the one on her doll. Bell had a matching one, but it was light blue with a blue stone instead.

"I know, Will," May nodded.

"And just because Bill says something is okay or says that you should do something, it does not mean that you should," Will said firmly with a frown.

"You've told me." May giggled as she stood and walked towards the carriage with Will.

"I'm not mad, May May, but why didn't you wait at the entrance like I told you?" He had some errands to run and May had immediately wanted to tag along. Of course that meant Bell was going too.

"I saw a flower I wanted to give Bill," May answered as if he'd asked her what her name was.

"But you want to give every flower you see to Bill." Will frowned in confusion.

"This one looked perfect though! And I wanted to do it before the flowers went to sleep," May explained with a smile.

"You mean while they were still blooming," Will corrected her with a chuckle. She had an interesting way of phrasing certain things at times. May tended to be very straight forward, but that also meant that she skipped over details and left a lot of confusion in her wake. Now that he thought of it, Will suspected she'd gotten that from Bill, but Bill's intentions were much less innocent and much more intentional than May's.

"Right, that," she confirmed. "And I wanted to see Bill before we left," May added softly. She hadn't seen him much all day. The demon could be quite elusive in the large mansion and even then, he came and left as he pleased. There was never a guarantee that May could find him (though she'd become quite good at it), but that never stopped her from looking.

"That's very kind of you, May May." Will smiled at down at her. "I don't know how you two get along so well sometimes when Bill is so… so…" He trailed when he caught the somber look on May's face. "Well, you know how he can be." He tried to drop the matter.

"Will. Do you hate Bill?" May didn't like confrontation. She wanted to pick flowers, play and for everyone to get along.

"I don't-" Will sighed. "I don't hate him, but he's very irresponsible, arrogant and doesn't have the common sense he should."

May didn't seem convinced, so he continued. "Look, I don't hate Bill any more than you would hate Bell when you fight." Though Bell probably didn't make it her agenda in life to make May's a giant festering heap of stress.

May nodded slowly. "Okay. Because you're twins, like us."

"Heh. That's not exactly true. I think I've told you this before." During their lessons at one point the discussion had somehow devolved to talking about demons. At the time, May had been doodling on some paper, but had been vaguely paying attention.

"Uh… you said Bill was… your dad?" May's quizzical look gained a laugh from Will.

"In human terms I guess that makes some sense. Bill created me when he was trying to create a clone of himself." It was very miniscule, but May noted a slight strain in Will's usual natural smile.

"You act so different though."

"Let's just say it wasn't a perfect execution on his part-"

"That's putting it lightly." The two swung their head to see Bill standing at the entrance. "Where are you two off to?" he asked with an incline of his head.

"I thought you were sleeping," Will stated flatly.

"Just answer the question, Blueberry."

"Just some errands," Will answered casually.

"Food! Food! Food!" May tugged on Will's hand with both of hers excitedly as her eyes lit up.

"Yes, yes. And the bakery too," Will added with an affectionate smile, glancing down at the girl. As if she or Bell would ever let him forget-

Suddenly, Will's world went dark and his head felt like it might split open. He snatched his hand away from May's to pull his top hat off of his head and hold his aching cranium.

"Ooow! Bill! What was that for!?" Will shouted, rubbing his head and looking at his poor smashed hat where Bill had slammed his cane down on the butler's head.

"Unless you want an angry mob to descend on this place and for me to burn the town down to a scorch mark of my likeness then don't forget your cloak, moron," Bill stated, using his cane to poke at his clone's cheek idly.

Blinking back tears, Will brushed the cane away and pulled at a lock of his hair in front of his eyes, finding his usually blue tresses to be black. Bill had no problem blending in with the humans, but Will was the one who dealt with them the most. However, blue hair was a sure sign of a demon or at least abnormal and likely to draw unwanted attention, so Will always put on a cloak spell when he went into town or interacted with the humans to conceal his hair color.

"You could have just told me that I didn't have it on," Will whined, doing his best to reshape his hat before putting it back on.

"Also, don't forget to get those little cakes I like," Bill ignored his complaints.

"Noted," Will grumbled with watering eyes from his aching head. "Come on, May M-"

"And you." Bill glanced down, addressing May. "Remember."

As if on cue, May opened her mouth to follow along.

" _Growing up is optional, all religions are wrong and fun is just another way of saying chaos, bye!_ " They spoke in perfect sync, displaying matching smiles after the short chant.

"That's my Shooting Star." Bill grinned to himself as he strode down the hall and May happily waved goodbye.

Will gaped as his master walked away, looking back and forth between him and May in shock. "H-How long have you been telling her that?" he squeaked in horror.

Bill stopped with his back to them. He was silent for a moment, appearing thoughtful, and tilted his head back.

"How old is she again?"

…

Will sighed as they walked towards the carriage and he began to open the door for May. Just when Will thought he knew all of Bill's tricks and the ways of his wicked mind, the blond found new ways to confound and aggravate him.

"Finally, we can take a nice relaxing ride into tow-" Will's blue eyes went wide.

He instantly grabbed May, shoving her behind him and blocked the onslaught of sharp metal coming from inside the carriage with the door as his shield. He felt the knives thud against the wooden door and waited with a pounding heart. When he finally chanced a peek around the corner he let out a yelp when another projectile sailed towards him and embedded itself in the door, inches from his face.

However, he only paled when he met the icy blue eyes of the attacker inside.

"I have been waiting… for over an hour…" The aggressor growled lowly.

"B-Bell… you need to calm-"

"DO YOU KNOW HOW SORE MY BUTT IS!?" Her arm was a blur and another knife shot past Will's head.

Swallowing thickly, Will took a deep breath and mustered his nerve. "I know you're upset, but what have I told you about using deadly weapons when you're angry!?" He raised his voice near the end as he looked at the damage to the interior of the carriage in distress.

"If I mortally wound anyone it _won't_ be on accident!" Bell shot back.

"That wasn't that point-! Anyway, I thought you lost your last set of knives from fishing in the river!" Will exclaimed.

" _Bill_ bought me new ones!" Bell retorted with a scowl. "Unlike _someone_!"

"Hey! If Bell gets to bring her knives, I wanna bring my grappling hook!" May protested.

"Damn it, Bill…" Will muttered under his breath, shaking in irritation before he shouted. "NO DANGEROUS WEAPONS IN THE CARRIAGE!"

"I hate you, Will!" His impaled hat flew through the air before the knife planted itself in the pillar of the mansion.

"Bull's eye!" May cheered.

Will groaned. "Why me?"

All he had wanted to do was run some errands.

* * *

Author's Note: This story uses an AU of mine and the plot itself is based on the manga Hana to Akuma in which an abandoned human child is picked up and raised by demons on a whim of the master of a household in the 1800s (I'm guessing based on the culture and clothes). Bill is the master and reverse Bill/Will is his butler, whom I made to be a clone that Bill created of himself. The AU is basically the idea that canon Mabel and reverse Mabel are twin sisters. Canon Mabel is named May and reverse Mabel is named Bell.

Now that the exposition is done, I have to say, I was super excited when I thought of this. The way Bill is portrayed and often dressed when in his human form and Mabel being a sweet and energetic child who's somewhat accustomed to strange things matched the plot and characters so perfectly. Not to mention Will's personality matching Toni, the butler from the story, so well. Originally, I'd been planning to only have Mabel in the story, but as I was thinking about how to distinguish her canon and reverse self if I did them both, the May Bell idea just fit too perfectly. In the end, I thought it'd be fun to show the contrast between the two Mabel's and thus make Will's life a whole lot more difficult. XD

It was hard for me to characterize Bell and I'm still working on it, so please let me know what you think of her and the story itself. All feedback is much appreciated!


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